


you know just where i keep my better side

by JuneOokami, Silversouledcat



Series: Disaster Trio Modern AU [9]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Cooking, Bickering, Books, Cooking, Cute Kids, Disaster Trio Modern AU, Drinking, Drunkenness, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Family Reunions, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, For reasons, Gen, Hair Braiding, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Road Trips, Tags Are Hard, Traditions, Trevor Belmont is a Dumbass, Underage Drinking, drunk!alucard, probable butchering of romanian costumes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:54:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22739908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuneOokami/pseuds/JuneOokami, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silversouledcat/pseuds/Silversouledcat
Summary: Every year the many, many Belnades gather to share stories and bond over Romanian traditions. They cook, play and bicker like families are supposed to. Sypha has decided it's the perfect time to introduce her boyfriends to them, and most importantly, her Grandpa."It's your family now, too. Once the Belnades adopt you, that's it, you're never getting rid of us," she said to Trevor and Adrian as they carried the bags upstairs.
Relationships: Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya & Trevor Belmont & Sypha Belnades, Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades, Sypha Belnades & Original Character(s)
Series: Disaster Trio Modern AU [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1525235
Comments: 4
Kudos: 90





	you know just where i keep my better side

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! First off, I'm not Romanian and only know a few things from a very good friend about Romania, so apologies for this mess. I tried my best.
> 
> There are so many OCs here, because I had to give Sypha a proper family. Big families are my personal jam. 
> 
> Beware of underage drinking and people playing potentially scary games in the dark.
> 
> Title is from Dimming of the Day by The Corrs

After a year dating Trevor and Adrian, when summer came in dry and scalding, Sypha decided to more or less drag the boys along for the annual Belnades gathering. They wanted to go, both expressing an honest desire to meet her extensive family and be all nice and proper, but that was because they didn't know her family. She talked about them to her boyfriends, a lot actually, because her family was the foundation of who she was and what she aspired for in life. Sypha's boys knew a lot about her myriad of extraordinary relatives. 

That was, however, very different from being surrounded by a veritable army of overly excited Belnades, sharing new and old baby pictures, getting up to date on the latest gossip and arguing fervently about whatever came to mind, from the safety of nuclear energy to the best way to prepare a new garden.

"Did you pack a jacket?"

Trevor stopped trying to force his suitcase to stay closed, the contents sprawling out on the bedroom floor, and looked up at Sypha with a frown. "It's summer, it's really warm."

"You should pack a jacket all the same," she said, grabbing one from his closet and tossing it in his general direction. Trevor almost got hit in the face with it. "And your swim trunks. I have sunscreen in my bag, 'since I know you've never bought any."

"What for? I'm a hairy dude."

Sypha rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen, where Adrian was sitting at the table with a map open on his phone, taking notes on a small notebook. "I'm hoping you're a more sensible person than Trevor and packed a jacket and swim trunks."

Adrian stopped writing and stretched his arms up, releasing tension from his shoulders and back. "It's not hard, being more sensible than Trevor," he pointed out, feigning offense. 

"You didn't, then," said Sypha, crossing her arms.

Adrian stared at her for several moments, but she didn't budge, and he sighed. "No, I didn't."

Sypha threw her arms up, huffing in exasperation. "Two! Two whole boyfriends, and neither of them knows how to pack!" she cried, opening the fridge and grabbing a beer. "Gods have mercy on me. You're gonna have to grab that tonight, ok?"

"But why? I get the swim trunks, even if I really don't like the sun. Fine. But why the jacket? It's really hot," Adrian argued, setting an alarm on his phone to pick those items up later anyway.

"We're gonna spend three days at Grandpa's. Why wouldn't you pack for a weather change? I'd make you take the jacket if we were going to spend just an afternoon there." Sypha drank half of her beer, because these boys would be her death.

"Trevor's taking shotgun," Adrian said as he loaded the car, and Sypha stopped dead in her tracks.

"Why?"

"He's a better co-pilot," said Adrian, trying to make all the bags fit.

"I won't sleep on the trip," explained Trevor, passing behind her and putting a folded map in the glove compartment.

"I only slept for like, ten minutes!" Sypha exclaimed, stupefied. "This is such bullshit. He can't even take over when you get tired!"

Adrian closed the trunk and frowned at Trevor, who was standing next to the open passenger seat door. "Wait, but you can drive. I've seen that junk you call a car."

Trevor raised his hand and started counting off his fingers. "First, curly slept for half of the trip to the beach, and it wasn't even that far. Second, I can drive stick only. This shit?" he pointed at Adrian's car, "This is a spaceship. Third, and most important, you didn't seem to mind it being junk when we came back from the movies that day. Very good memories were made in that backseat."

"You should be thankful you're such a good kisser. That car is falling apart. It smells of Cheetos," said Adrian, visibly giving up. Sypha had already thrown the towel and settled in the backseat with a book. Trevor blew him a kiss over the car, both laughing as they got in.

"At least let me pick the music?" she asked, taking her shoes off so she could put her legs up on the seat. 

"Sure, that seems fair."

"She's gonna pick something super old," said Trevor, with one foot on the seat, playing with the hem of his jeans absentmindedly.

Sypha grabbed her phone from her bag and picked one of her favorite playlists. Foreigner started blasting pretty loud from the car speakers, and Trevor quirked his eyebrows at Adrian in a _told you so_.

"Why can't you drive automatic?" asked Adrian, focusing on getting them out on the road. He was a very careful driver, most of the time.

Trevor shrugged. "Pops taught me how to drive, and his car is a 1956 Thunderbird. I think the newest car anyone in my family has is a 94 Corolla."

"Just, why? Why are you Belmonts like that?"

"Said the Tepes," retorted Trevor, rolling his eyes dramatically. Adrian side-eyed him pretty hard.

"Y'all are gonna love my family," said Sypha, without looking up from her book. She tried to hide her yawn by sinking in her seat and using the book as a cover, but Trevor looked back at her with a victorious smile. Syphe showed her tongue at him.

"You were supposed to take that exit twenty miles back," said Trevor, looking at the map. He bit his lip, turned the thing slightly to the right, then to the left. "I'm pretty sure of it."

"I regret vouching for you," grumbled Adrian, skipping five consecutive songs by The Kinks. Maybe he should just switch to his own playlist, now that Sypha was snoring softly in the backseat.

"Just shut up and pull over."

Adrian did so, yanking the map from his boyfriend's hands. He squinted at it, located the road they were on and traced it, trying to figure out what they were doing wrong. Trevor unbuckled his seatbelt to peer from his side, frowning. He pointed something on the map.

"Isn't this the town we passed an hour ago?" he asked, having a hard time reading the name from an angle.

"Yeah, which means we're… here," said Adrian, guessing where they were from that information. He could almost hear the voice of his tutor, monotone and droning, explaining how to calculate distance traveled to a terribly bored thirteen year old Adrian. The memory made him shiver.

"So, for the record, I was right," stated a painfully smug Trevor. He put his seatbelt back on and crossed his arms, grinning. 

"I hate you," said Adrian, neatly folding the map and handing it to his boyfriend before getting the card back on the road. Trevor blew him another kiss.

Sypha put down two large bags near the door and fumbled for her favorite keychain inside her purse. It was a large and heavy thing, full of little trinkets from around the world, containing some sixty keys of varying sizes. She quickly picked the one she needed, attached to an old twenty five bani Romanian coin, and opened the front door of the large house. 

"I'm home!" she yelled inside and turned back to grab the bags, saying "Come in, we need to finish unloading the car before we help with lunch." Trevor and Adrian, each carrying a large ice box, followed her as they headed in towards the kitchen. 

As they crossed the long hallway and passed by the large living room, several people of all ages greeted them. There were four very similar looking teenagers setting up the enormous dining table as a buffet; they stopped and cheered loudly when Sypha entered the room and she laughed, leading her very confused boyfriends into the kitchen full of people. 

"Hey all!" she said, indicating where the boys should leave the ice boxes, near the two double fridges. Sypha received a very warm welcome from the mostly elderly crowd doing the cooking, involving several cheek pinches and hugs that left flour stains on her old black t-shirt. Adrian and Trevor did not manage to escape without some tight hugs and cheek kisses as well. As they headed out the way they came to finish unloading the car, Sypha whispered to them, "This is why I told you to wear old clothes for the trip."

"Your family is huge," said an amazed Adrian, once they were out of earshot. Trevor snorted. He was impressed too, which was a feat considering his own family was really big. Nothing compared to Sypha's, though.

"That's not even half of them," she said, and her boyfriends exchanged a look of concern. They took the bags from the trunk of Adrian's car, parked next to several vans and a few mobile homes. It stood out among them, new and fancy and shiny. 

"Are they staying here too?" asked Adrian, gesturing between the huge house and the trailers.

"Yep, with very few exceptions. There's a guest house in the back too. Grandpa wanted the family to have a place where everyone could get together, no matter how many of us showed up."

"That sounds really nice," Adrian said, a little bit jealous. Sypha could see it, though, and bumped shoulders with him lightly, smiling.

"It's your family now, too. Once the Belnades adopt you, that's it, you're never getting rid of us," she said to Trevor and Adrian as they carried the bags upstairs.

"So this is your room?" asked Trevor, poking around. The room was fairly standard sized for an older house, with a closet and a dresser. Adrian sat on the double bed and let himself relax a bit. Sypha took her shoes off and put on a pair of slippers, handing her boyfriends their own, brand new slippers.

"It is now. Used to be a couple doors that way," she said, pointing in the general direction of the stairs. "We're staying here and hopefully none of my cousins will have to sleep here with us."

Adrian blinked at her, confused. "With us?"

"There are so many spare mattresses in this house," said Sypha, enjoying every second of it. "Come on now, we're gonna say hi to Grandpa and then we're on kitchen duty. Rest while you work."

Grandpa was in the backyard, sitting on an old recliner on the back porch, chatting excitedly with a little girl who apparently couldn't stand still for more than three whole seconds. "And then, Mulan jumped on the roof and she had these really cool fans! I had never seen someone fight using fans before. Do you think I could learn to do that, Grandpa?" she asked, bright eyes wide as she recounted the movie. 

Grandpa nodded, enraptured, as he ate a peanut. "What happened then?"

The little girl gestured as she talked, making broad fighting motions, only stopping when she saw Sypha approaching with her boyfriends.

"Sora!" she yelped, running to hug her cousin. Sypha almost lost her balance from the impact. Grandpa didn't get startled, apparently very used to this, remaining in his chair as he watched them.

"Your actual sister is gonna get jealous, Erica," said Sypha, picking the girl up for a moment and kissing her cheek. The little girl laughed, turning to look at the pair of very startled men. "These are my boyfriends, Trevor and Adrian," she said, pointing at them and sharing a meaningful look with her Grandpa. The old man nodded in approval. Erica looked absolutely shocked.

"Both? Like, two boyfriends?" she asked, mouth agape.

"Yep."

"Just for you?"

"Yep."

"Can you do that?! Wooooow!" exclaimed a disbelieving Erica, her little world completely changed by this discovery.

"Really cool, huh?" said Sypha, in a conspiratorial tone. Trevor and Adrian were getting whiplash from the back and forth.

"So cool!" agreed Erica, turning to her Grandpa, "Can I have two boyfriends too?"

"You're six, nepoata mea. You can have zero boyfriends," he said, very calm. The little girl pouted and he chuckled. "Turn eighteen and ask me again."

"I'm going to ask Irina then!" said an upset Erica, as she ran off into the house.

Sypha just laughed and hugged her Grandpa, insisting that the old man remain seated. She turned to her boys to introduce them. "This is my grandfather, Stefan. He's the one who raised me," she said, resting a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her with a fond smile, patting her hand gently, before addressing Trevor and Adrian.

"Nice to meet you, boys. Welcome to the family. I apologize in advance for the chaos, it can't be helped," said Stefan, extending a hand to greet them. Adrian shook his hand first, then Trevor, both trying their best to give a good first impression.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, sir. Sypha talks a lot about you," said Adrian, with Trevor nodding along.

"Yeah, we're very glad to be here with your family," said Trevor.

Stefan seemed very amused by their earnestness. "Well, you're part of it now. That includes the chores, too, unfortunately," he said, pointing at the door where a brown haired woman wearing an apron was glaring at them. "They'll be right there, Daria."

"They better be, 'cause there is a lot of work to do," aunt Daria said, shaking a wooden spoon at them before going back inside. Sypha looked like a kid caught red handed. She rushed her boyfriends back in before her aunt came back to get them.

Adrian made a valiant attempt at getting out of said kitchen duty, which lasted until a middle aged woman in a wheelchair glared at him. "You there, what's your name?"

"I'm Adrian, I'm… with Sypha," he said, unsure how to introduce himself in this situation. The woman sized him up and down and he heard a few snickers around the kitchen, Sypha included. Trevor had already accepted his fate, dutifully doing the dishes. 

"Nice meeting you, I'm Marzia, her aunt. Now, aren't you going to help with lunch?"

"I can't cook," he tried, making to leave. Marzia glared some more and he stopped immediately. 

She handed him a knife and pointed at a bowl overflowing with potatoes on the big kitchen island. "You look like a healthy young man. I'm sure you can peel." Then she returned to skillfully cutting a massive roast beef. Adrian took a deep breath and started peeling. He took a whole five minutes with his first potato and almost cut himself.

"Luca, can you put these in the dining room?" asked aunt Daria, handing one of the teens a big salad bowl and gesturing at another. He and one of his twins, Mihai, carried them out as their other brothers came into the kitchen. The other two, Marian and Florin, helped take two whole pigs out of the ovens, carrying them to a kitchen table where three elderly men were carving more meats for the meal. There were massive platters filled with chicken and roast beef as well, ready to be served. Everyone worked in a huge production line, helping each other while tending to specific tasks to keep the flow as more and more food was prepared.

Trevor took a second to breathe and watch, while aunt Ana Maria dried some of the dishes he had just washed. "Tired already, sweetie?" she asked, friendly.

"A bit, yeah. How do you guys make this work so well?" he said, getting right back to washing as a load of used cutlery was dumped into the sink.

"Years of practice, I guess," she said, shrugging. As if on cue, a plate fell of someone's hand and shattered on the floor, spreading porcelain shards all over the kitchen and halting work. "Oh dear," said aunt Ana Maria, startled.

"I'll clean it," offered Sypha, leaving the onions she was chopping and going to find a broom. Work resumed around her somehow, as she checked under each counter for the broken pieces. Once she was done, Sypha decided to check on Adrian. He was very focused on his task, trying his best to learn by himself, but it wasn't going very well. "Need help?"

Adrian looked dejectedly at his very small bunch of peeled potatoes. "I'm useless. I can't even do this," he mumbled, poking the bowl. 

"Don't even start," said Sypha, taking the knife from his hands as gently as she could. "Here, look," she said, standing beside him to show him how to do it. When he remained confused, she tried a different approach, standing behind him and guiding his hands as he peeled. 

"Very romantic," he said, but his tone was lighter as he got it and started peeling properly on his own. Sypha smiled proudly at him, kissed his cheek and went back to work on her onions.

"Hot rice, coming through!" yelled aunt Daria from the kitchen. Seconds later, she and three other women carried the four enormous pots full of freshly cooked rice into the dining room. They were followed by Adrian, carrying the potato salad he worked so hard on, and the three platters of meats being carried by the men. The quadruplets moved around the room helping put each thing in its place, adding big spoons and forks for serving. On the table-turned-buffet, there were also big bowls full of gravy, goulash and tabbouleh. A separate big table, set against a wall, had plates, cutlery, glasses and big jars of juice. The ice boxes were placed nearby. It was a massive operation to feed so many people.

When everything was properly set, uncle Dima, a bald, rough-looking man, yelled to the house at large, "Lunch is served!"

Trevor and Adrian watched in wonder as the news traveled around the house, with many voices calling one another, and people started pouring into the dining room like an upturned anthill. Sypha, more than used to this, put her arms around their shoulders. "Y'all aren't ready to go in just yet, let's wait for the first wave to be done," she said, keeping them safely out of the way.

Dozens upon dozens of people, talking almost non-stop, passed through the room, grabbing their plates and filling them with delicious smelling food. Many, many children waited patiently for their turns, chatting excitedly and laughing while they stood in line. The Belnades were a highly diverse bunch, with folks coming over from around the world, but they all seemed to be extremely talkative. Trevor, who thought the Belmont clan gatherings were pretty big affairs before, stood slack-jawed on the sideline.

"How many uncles and aunts do you have?" whispered Adrian, trying and failing to count.

"Thirty seven," she said, proud. "That's from both mom and dad's sides, of course. There's also a lot of people who got adopted into the family along the years."

"Holy shit," Trevor breathed, and Sypha laughed. Uncle Dima approached them, ruffling her hair before he hugged the boys tight and kissed their cheeks.

"Hello, kotik. Nice to meet you, boys. Welcome to family," he said in a strong russian accent, patting them both on the shoulders. "Now go eat, there's plenty for all."

The trio grabbed their food and Sypha led them to the TV room, where they sat on the couch to eat with several other people. It was a spacious room, but with so many people sitting on the big L couch and on the floor, it looked pretty small. The coffee table was covered in juice glasses, with people barely keeping tabs of which glass was theirs. Everyone talked through the meal, sharing news and stories and jokes. 

The Belnades family tradition was that the only way to get out of helping cook was to help clean, which meant the elders got to sit down and rest after lunch while an army of kids took over the kitchen. That meant cleaning took a while longer than it probably needed to, but the kids enjoyed it and the family in general agreed that it was good for them.

Adrian, who knew good goulash when he saw it, went to their room to take a proper nap to recover from a hearty lunch. Trevor and Sypha stayed with the quadruplets in the TV room, where the boys set up a pile of blankets and cushions on the floor.

"What are we watching?" asked Trevor, yawning a bit. 

Mihai didn't help matters, closing the curtains to make the room cozier. "Independence Day, duh."

"It's a tradition we have," explained Florin, laying down and grabbing a cushion to hug. "We'll sleep for most of it, but you can bet we'll be awake for the speech."

"The speech and the blowing up the aliens part," added Luca, sitting on a blanket with his back against the couch.

"We should add Mars Attack to this," said Sypha, already settling with a bottle of water. She was more alert than Trevor, probably due to sleeping most of the way there.

"I agree. Poke me when they're about to blow up the tunnel," mumbled an already mostly asleep Trevor. "Doggo lives."

"Doggo lives," agreed Sypha, petting his hair as he laid on her lap.

Adrian joined them towards the end of the movie, in time to catch the President's inspirational speech before the final battle against the invading aliens. Sypha pat the spot next to her, now vacant since Trevor decided to slide down and join the twins on the floor. They were sharing homemade salted popcorn and a bag of contraband Cheetos. "You woke up for the best part," she said, excited.

"Couldn't sleep much, your family is… loud," he replied, settling next to her. Trevor offered him some of the popcorn, but he refused, still feeling full from lunch. "Why are you watching this?"

"Tradition," the twins said, in unison. It was a bit creepy how they could just do that.

"But why this? What's special about it?" asked a very confused Adrian. Sypha poked Trevor with her foot until he passed her the popcorn.

"Oh man, it's just so… how can I put it?" tried Luca, gesturing broadly.

"Western," supplied Florin. His brothers nodded in agreement.

"Like, not Western the bang-bang cowboy shooty genre," explained Mihai to the now very curious Trevor and Adrian. Sypha, though, seemed to get it right away. "Western as in 'damn westerners', you know?"

Adrian frowned at the boys. "As in Americans? Aren't you American too?"

"Yeah, well, we're all very Romanian inside," said Marian, shrugging. Sypha chuckled and high-fived him. "Aren't your folks from there too? Tepes?"

"They are, but my family isn't… quite so tied to our roots," said Adrian, unsure. His grandfather had moved over from Romania at a young age, built a business and left it to his son, who turned it into an empire. Vlad met Lisa within the community, but it wasn't a direct attempt at reconnecting with his origins or following any sort of tradition. "I had forgotten how many people are in this movie."

"The weird dude is gonna blow up the aliens!" said Mihai, elbowing Trevor next to him. They watched the rest of the movie in amazed silence, marveling at the cast of thousands, endless patriotism and Will Smith. 

"We should include Top Gun next year," said Sypha, stretching.

"Please don't. I don't wanna have to drool over hot and young Val Kilmer in public," said Trevor, and Sypha had to control her emotions even as her chest tightened a bit over her boyfriend practically promising to be there for more family gatherings. Adrian noticed it, and squeezed her hand discreetly, smiling at her. He would be there too. She smiled back at him and bent down to kiss Trevor's forehead. "What?"

"No promises. If the twins put Top Gun on, we're all gonna suffer sexy oily Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer together."

"Oh God," said Trevor, horrified.

After the movie, Sypha showed the boys around the house properly. It could be easily considered a mansion, only with no opulence whatsoever. The kitchen rivaled the industrial setup required to run the hotel, Adrian noted, with about as much space as in a professional kitchen left for people to move around. It was no surprise, then, when Sypha explained that aunt Daria owned a small restaurant. Many of her other aunts and uncles had some experience in the food industry too, having worked in all sorts of places.

"Cousin Clara works in her mom's restaurant, so she picks cleaning. Enough of Daria bossing her around all year long, I think," said Sypha, taking them into the study. Adrian whistled, impressed, while Trevor started poking around almost immediately, exploring like a kid left unsupervised in a toy store.

"Wow. It's… I think it's bigger than my father's library," said Adrian, incredulous. The room was bigger than any other in the house, making even the kitchen look small in comparison. There were several rows of bookshelves, all mostly full, and even more books piled around with small notes on top, secured by random trinkets being used as makeshift paperweights. Upon Trevor's closer inspection, the notes were actually names. Adrian looked too, curious. "What's all this?"

"Every year we kinda… pillage the study, in a way. Everyone comes here, picks a bunch of books and puts their name on top of their pile like that," explained Sypha, starting to browse the rows herself. She picked a few books here and there, piling them up on a free corner. "I have to return the ones I picked last year," she mumbled, reading the back of a novel to see if she wanted it.

"How does anyone know what books are where? These aren't organized at all," noted Trevor, deciding to follow her around. Adrian was looking at each pile now, reading the names and noticing how many books they were taking. Some of the kids' piles were massive, with their poorly scribbled names written in any scrap of paper they could find.

"They don't," said Sypha, looking sideways so she could read the spines. "I know most of these books by heart, but people bring new ones every year and we just stash them wherever." Satisfied with her pile, Sypha opened one of the drawers on the messy table and picked a calendar, ripping a random blank page off and tossing the thing back in haphazardly. She picked the first pen on sight and wrote her name on it, placing a stapler on top of it to mark her pile. "There's no way to keep up with it, but I try anyways because I like to suffer like that," she said, smiling at her completely dazzled boyfriends. Her pile was at least four feet tall.

"How many books are you returning?" asked Adrian, trying to figure out when she would have the time to read all that, plus all the other books on her ever growing reading list.

"Twenty."

Adrian and Trevor exchanged a look and silently agreed that this was insane and not healthy. They dragged Sypha out of the study just as two of her many, many cousins went in. The oldest of them, a blonde woman with thick glasses, was carrying a big pile of books to return, while the little boy carried just three. "Left anything good for me?" she asked, watching Sypha put up a fight just for show.

"Plenty. Didn't find any of the books about japanese history, maybe you'll have better luck than me," said Sypha, waving at her while pushing back against Trevor. "Have fun, Lola!"

"Sure," said Lola, amused, watching Adrian pull a laughing Sypha by the hand while Trevor kept her from running back in.

The trio waited for dinner, which would be prepared by a different crew of Belnades, who seemed to multiply when Adrian and Trevor weren't looking. They decided to spend some time in the living room, where Erica and her sister, Irina, were playing with dolls. It was a perfect opportunity for Trevor to train some new skills, as they settled on the comfy leather couch, except for Adrian, who sat on a cushion on the floor. 

"Am I doing this right?" asked Trevor after a while, leaning to the side so Sypha could check his work. She gave him a smile and a thumbs up. Adrian didn't dare move from his position, but she could see the tension in his muscles, the anxiety to get up and take a look for himself. Erica, leaning over her cousin's shoulder, made a little gleeful noise and started bouncing excitedly. She had forgotten all about her dolls.

"Can you braid my hair next, Trevor?" the little girl asked, impossibly sweet, and Sypha pet her curly blonde hair. "Pleeeeeeease?"

"Uh… sure, I guess? As soon as I'm done with Adrian's," Trevor said, a bit taken aback. Irina was watching everything from the other couch, where she was still dressing up several Barbies.

Erica jumped around the couch, saying "Yaaaaaaay, thanks Trevor! Be right back, sora!" and then she ran off into the hallway, before poking her head back into the room. "Your hair is looking very pretty, Adrian!" she said and disappeared again.

This time Adrian dared look over his shoulder, his cheeks ever so slightly pink, trying to keep from smiling until Sypha shoved his shoulder gently and he let go, all soft and comfortable, for just a moment. Trevor was smiling too, pleased with himself and with Adrian being more open to displays of affection, as he poked into Adrian's side with his foot. "Ok, let me finish your hair, goldy. I've got more important clients coming now," he said, as they heard the voices of several small children somewhere in the house getting excited at the prospect of braids and cute ponytails.

Irina stayed exactly where she was, only raising her eyebrows at them. "You have no idea what you've brought upon yourself," she said, experiencing a very specific instance of schadenfreude. Seconds later, they could hear the sounds of tiny feet running their way, clapping slippers against the hardwood floors. They were quickly swarmed by the kids, all speaking at once about what they wanted. One of them was carrying a multitude of colorful hair bands. Irina just laughed.

"Ok, ok, one at a time! Make a line!" said Sypha, trying to get their attention as the kids complimented Adrian (who was now very, very uncomfortable) and demanded Trevor did their hair next.

The sound of crickets and frogs and birds was deafening after most of the family retired to their rooms. Some of the younger ones lingered in the kitchen, making late night snacks, while others played games on the dining room table, pulling chairs close so everyone could see the game board. Sypha was still, arguably, part of the young crowd of grandchildren, and so she would sit on the porch and have some fun with her cousins. There was no room for counter arguments.

"Is it always this loud?" asked Trevor, scratching his head. All three of them were sitting on the steps, holding a beer each, which also classified as contraband in the Belnades household. Lola was sitting on the porch rail, swaying one loose leg lazily, while the quadruplets were up to no good a few feet away on the dirt driveway.

"Yes? You should know this, you're not a city boy like he is," said Sypha, pointing accusingly at Adrian, who dared to look offended. "Sorry, honey, but you're a city gay."

"I am not. There are stables on my family's estate," he tried to defend himself, but that only made things worse.

"How rich are you, again?" asked Lola, disgusted. Sypha pointed at her cousin, nodding along as she drank. "Nobody normal says that, dude."

"Having stables does not make your house a farm," added Trevor, shrugging at the betrayed look on Adrian's face.

"Trevor is a country gay because his family is made of a bunch of redneck hunters, then?" asked Adrian.

"My family is mostly French," said Trevor, as if that would help. It really didn't.

"Where did the twins go?" asked Lola, getting their attention. They looked around, seeing no trace of the quadruplets. Sypha was just about to get worried when she heard Marian's voice.

"Hey, you guys wanna play a game?" he asked, coming from the dirt road. There was a moment of quiet uncertainty, as the four of them shared a questioning look. "You don't have to ask, it is absolutely a terrible idea. It's gonna be fun, though."

"I love terrible ideas," said Trevor as he followed Marian, which more of less forced the others to go as well. 

Irina and another two cousins, Yuri and Pietro, plus their respective girlfriends (Kelly, Paloma and Sam), had already joined the twins by the time the group following Marian arrived at the clearing. It was a little ways off the dirt road, which was poorly lit, making it hard to see much even with a full moon. The quadruplets were apparently planning this ahead of time, as they distributed flashlights to everyone.

"Those are for emergencies and freak outs only," explained Mihai to the group gathered around him. "We're playing a game Florin here found on a tumblr post, because we're bored as fuck," he said, putting an arm around Florin's shoulder as his brother waved, proud.

"Oh, no," said Sypha and Lola almost in unison. Irina, however, looked incredibly excited, as did Trevor because he had no self preservation instincts.

"The game is called Roll Call. Here's how this is gonna work, fam. We're making a line, all facing that way," said Mihai, pointing towards the house. They could all see the roof over the treeline, so there was that at least. "Except for one, which will be the Taker."

"I'm liking this less and less by the minute," said Adrian, before getting shushed by Luca.

"We're all going to walk that way, no turning, no running, no speaking until roll is called. The Line Leader has to start the roll call, whenever they want to, and say their name, and then everyone says theirs in turn."

"Just like in school!" interjected Luca.

"Here's the fun part. The Taker can grab the last person off the line, and then that person becomes a Taker too. You can't scream when this happens, so use the flashlight to get away if you freak out or just quit. Takers can also join the line to fool the next person until roll call. This way, when roll reaches the last person and they aren't there anymore…" Mihai trailed off, grinning.

"Very unlike school!" said Luca, excitedly.

"I think this is your worst idea to date," said Sypha, honestly floored by the absurd levels of terribleness.

"Worse than water balloons with paint?" asked Lola.

"Yeah, way worse."

"So, who wants to be Leader and who wants to be Taker?" asked Irina, already in. Luca raised his hand immediately.

"Taker!" he said, looking expectantly at Marian, who just shrugged.

"Leader," said Marian, and they formed a line.

Behind Marian, in order, were Lola, Yuri, Paloma, Adrian, Sam, Pietro, Irina, Mihai, Sypha, Kelly, Florin and Trevor, who actually wanted to be the last in line for some reason. Probably a really bad reason. Meanwhile, Luca stayed back a few feet.

"Ready?" asked Marian, checking that everyone was in their places. "Remember, be silent, only say your name. Let's go!"

They started walking. Marian took a few seconds to start roll call, because the whole point of this game was obviously to make everyone miserable. Everyone said their names and everything seemed okay.

They kept walking, with Marian taking his sweet time between rolls calls. By the start of the fourth roll call, everyone was pretty nervous.

"Sypha," she said, feeling sweat start to form on her neck.

"Kelly."

"Florin."

Nobody heard Trevor's name.

"Oh, fuck," muttered Sypha, under her breath. Mihai shushed her.

Now that Trevor was also one of the Takers, Sypha was considerably more worried. He had grown up hunting with his father and was a sneaky bastard even when he wasn't trying to be one. Adrian was already sweating cold and regretting his position on the line. 

"Roll!" called Marian, just a few seconds later, sounding just a bit more nervous and less amused than before. "Marian."

The line followed, and nothing happened. Florin was still there. They kept walking.

Another roll call went smoothly after that. Too smoothly. So much so that when Florin was taken, nobody was surprised per se, but everyone cursed quietly.

"Roll," called Marian right away, not very amused anymore. "Marian."

The line followed, and Kelly was gone.

Sypha could swear she heard snickers around them in the dark. She was holding her flashlight firmly, the convenient strap around her wrist to make sure she wouldn't lose it. The temptation to turn around and look when she heard something like footsteps on grass behind her was almost too strong, but Sypha resisted. She breathed, in and out, in and out, almost begging for Marian to start the roll call again. Adrian kept closing his fists tight, looking around as best as he could without looking away. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was thankful for the braid keeping his hair from sticking to his neck with sweat.

They kept walking. Yuri quit, turning his flashlight on and walking off to the back of the line. Weirdly enough, it was safer with the Takers.

After what felt like forever, Marian started another roll call.

The line followed, one by one, and Sypha was still there. She exhaled, and then she felt a hand on her arm. Before she could scream, someone put a hand over her mouth, pulling her back from the line. He had moved so quietly and so fast that Sypha needed a second to realize it was Trevor. Florin took her place, walking silently behind Mihai.

Sypha managed to contain herself just enough to get a few feet away from the group before she started a long stream of silent expletives, breathing hard and dripping with sweat. "That was fucking terrifying," she whispered to Trevor once she recomposed enough.

Trevor was cackling silently, losing his shit. "I know! I love this game!"

"You have issues," said Sypha, staring at him. She punched his chest without force, because fucking hell.

"Yeah, well," he said with a shrug. "Come on, let's get them so we can reach Adrian." 

Another two roll calls, almost back to back, reached Mihai before he got taken by his brother, looking pale and wide-eyed. He just dropped where he was and laid on the grass, trying to recover, so Yuri stayed back with him.

Adrian wanted to quit. He considered it, more than once. In the back of his mind, he could hear his father's voice pushing him to be tougher. Vlad had tried to teach his son to be resilient and strong, but all he managed was to make him insecure. Now, as Adrian walked in line knowing Trevor and Sypha, both sly and tough assholes, were the predators and he was the prey… well. It wasn't his idea of fun, and he wanted out, but he also trusted his partners. Besides, Adrian would be lying if he said it wasn't exciting, the same way a haunted house was, but so much worse.

They kept walking.

Roll call, and Irina was gone. And then, after a few more spaced out turns, Pietro was gone too. Sam was walking behind him, and Adrian grew more and more nervous.

Roll call, and the line followed. "Adrian," he said, and didn't hear Sam's name. Someone was behind him, but it wasn't Sam.

Adrian's palms were sweaty. The flashlight was in his pocket and he considered getting it and quitting. Would that be better? Would he have time to do it before he was taken? Whoever it was, kept walking behind him, quiet as a mouse. Adrian took a deep breath.

Roll call, and the line followed, and Adrian said his name. Then the person behind him simply tapped his shoulder and he nearly jumped off of his skin. When he turned, Sypha was standing there, grinning up at him like a gremlin. Trevor was literally rolling on the grass laughing, covering his own mouth to keep quiet.

He opened his mouth to call them assholes, because that's what they were, but Sypha put her finger against his lips, shushing him. He resorted to pantomime to express his complex emotional state, a mix of angry, relieved, tired and betrayed. Sypha laughed too.

"You should take someone, it's actually really fun," she said, and Adrian questioned her mental state. "Seriously, try it." Trevor was already teaming up with Mihai to get Paloma without her alerting everyone or, worse, scaring the family back in the house. The last thing anyone needed was a bunch of old people thinking someone was being murdered in the woods or something.

Adrian watched Trevor, who was clearly having the time of his life, wait until Paloma had said her name. Then he waited some more, as she expected to be taken at any moment. When she seemed to relax just a bit, Trevor grabbed her arm and quickly motioned for her to be quiet, making the girl bite on a yelp. She hit him over the head, which was fair and deserved. Trevor was more amused than hurt.

Deciding to give it a try after all, Adrian snook up to Lola, who seemed more resigned than nervous, probably due to past experiences with the twins. She was a bit tense still, as Adrian followed her, walking in Paloma's place. When Lola said her name and realized that the person walking behind her was not Paloma, Adrian grabbed her arm. She just groaned loudly though, even as he gestured for her to keep it down. Lola took a deep breath, rolling her eyes.

"I'm so done with this game. Yo, Marian," said Lola in her normal voice, and tackled Marian before he could react to her breaking the rules. Adrian watched as the two cousins fell on the grass, a little dazed. Everyone else thought it was really funny.

"Damn, Lola! Not cool!" complained Marian from the ground. His cousin got up, adjusted her glasses and helped him up.

"This game sucks. Let's go sleep before aunt Natalia wakes up," said Lola, making the quadruplets panic at the idea of getting caught staying up so late by their mother. They scrambled back towards the house. 

"I don't know, I thought it was really fun," said Irina, stretching as the group walked back on the dirt road. Trevor high fived her.

"It was considerably less awful than water guns with soap in the dark," admitted Yuri, holding his girlfriend's hand. "Grass is really slippery when soapy," he explained to Trevor and Adrian, still sour.

"I don't have to scrub wall paint off my hair this time, so I'm counting this as a win," agreed Sypha, and all the cousins nodded because that particular game had ruined so many clothes. The scolding afterwards wasn't great either.

In the main house, most lights were off and everything was silent. Everyone quietly said good night and went to their rooms, making sure not to wake anyone in the process.

After washing up and changing to their pajamas, the trio climbed into the bed, feeling the exhaustion from the long day catch up with them.

"Did you really enjoy that game?" asked Adrian, yawning. He blinked to keep himself awake while Sypha ran fingers through his hair, undoing the now messed up braid.

"It's like, if you got through a haunted house? And someone handed you a Jason mask and, like, a fake chainsaw and sent you back in," explained Sypha, eloquence gone with sleep deprivation. "Like, hell yeah, now I get to be a dick and make someone else miserable!"

"You're sinning," said Trevor, already stretched on the bed in his boxers. Adrian was on the edge on the other side of the bed, Sypha sitting behind him.

"What?"

"That's a sin against horror movies, you're mixing up Texas Chainsaw Massacre with Friday the 13th," he explained, watching them. Adrian turned to frown at him.

"I forgot you're a purist," mocked Sypha, kissing Adrian's shoulder when she was done. He thanked her with a proper kiss.

"And you're mean and like to hurt my feelings," retorted Trevor, pulling her by the waist for some spooning. Adrian just laid down, arm behind his head, too tired to join the bickering. He was quickly losing his fight against sleep.

"Let go, it's too hot for spooning. You're a furnace, Trev," said Sypha, pushing him away. Trevor pouted and sniffled and blinked at her like he was going to cry. "Do you see an air conditioner, sweetheart? I'm not gonna sweat like a pig all night."

"I thought you liked me hot," Trevor said, trying for an Oscar.

"Yeah, in winter. Hey, hey, shut up," she said, lowering her voice and pointing at Adrian, dozing off. "Just scoot," Sypha whispered, gesturing for Trevor to give her some room. Trevor relented and laid on his side so she could stay in the middle without taking in all of his seemingly unending body heat. She mouthed him a thank you and kissed her boyfriend. They needed and deserved a good night's rest.

Aunt Daria, commander of all kitchen operations, assessed Trevor with a clinical eye, making him feel small under her gaze. They were just done eating breakfast and had been summoned to help with the big family barbecue.

"I don't see the problem, he seems like a perfectly capable young man," she said, finally.

"You don't get it, auntie…" tried Sypha, exasperated. Adrian was equally worried, watching everything while he washed vegetables. The other aunts and uncles were paying close attention while they tended to their own tasks. 

"No, I really don't. You," said Daria, nodding at Trevor, who looked like a spooked rabbit. "You can help make mamaliga." Sypha shook her head vehemently, trying her best to communicate how much of a bad idea that was. "Dear God, Sypha. The boy can't be that incompetent."

"But he is!" said Sypha, at the same time as Trevor said, "No, I really am."

Aunt Daria crossed her arms and glared at both of them, huffing in frustration. "You'll supervise him," she decided, pointing over her shoulder at the stoves. "We don't have all day."

Sypha sighed heavily. "Y'all are witnesses," she said, pointing fingers around the kitchen. "I warned you, he's gonna ruin the mamaliga. Come on, Trev." Trevor followed her, grabbing an apron and putting it on. Sypha simply slapped his hand away and adjusted it because he was tying it wrong.

Outside, a few lambs were being slowly roasted on fire pits because tradition, while a lot of mici was grilled. Inside everyone was busy making all of the side dishes. They had enough ingredients for a couple tries, if Sypha's calculations were correct, so that when things went south, she could still make enough mamaliga for lunch. Aunt Daria had probably bought enough cornmeal for an army, as usual.

"What do I do?" asked Trevor, drying his hands on a dishcloth before tossing it on his shoulder, like he was some small town chef. Sypha took a deep breath and gave him the very basics of the dish, explaining the recipe. It was really simple, but that didn't mean anything when Trevor was in the kitchen. She grabbed the big cast iron pot, told Trevor to fill it with water and get it boiling. 

The first accident involved Trevor somehow getting the damn dishcloth on fire while trying to boil the water. Apparently, using matches to light a stove was too rudimentary for him. Luca, who was doing dishes nearby, quickly put out the fire by grabbing the fiery rag and tossing it into the filled sink. It splashed and sizzled. Sypha had to light the stove herself.

The second accident happened a few minutes later. Trevor, who apparently lost most of his brain cells whenever he was in a kitchen. didn't know how much salt to put in the water. Instead of asking like a reasonable human being, he decided to grab the salt bag and start pouring until it seemed enough, which obviously turned into a disaster when Sypha tasted the cooking mamaliga and realized it was painfully salty. Uncle Bogdan, responsible for the salad, doubted it could be that bad. He was wrong. "Did you get water from the Dead Sea to cook this?" he asked, after spitting into the trash can. The first batch of mamaliga was ruined and Sypha took the salt bag away from Trevor, salting the water herself.

The third accident was just Trevor putting way too much sunflower oil in the pot. Sypha had no idea when or how he got the damn thing so oily, but the mamaliga was simply covered in fat. She tossed the second batch and took the oil bottle away from Trevor.

The fourth accident consisted of Trevor inexplicably burning the mamaliga. Nobody in the kitchen could figure out how he managed to burn what was essentially just porridge. Sypha had walked away for just a few moments to check on Adrian and when she returned, the mamaliga was sticking to the bottom of the pot and quickly turning dark brown. After tossing the third batch, Sypha decided to try and watch the pot more closely.

The fifth accident, witnessed by everyone in the kitchen because they were expecting it now, was Trevor using a metal spoon to stir the mamaliga. He'd been handled a wooden spoon, but had misplaced it somewhere in the busy kitchen and grabbed the first spoon he could find to use instead. What Trevor didn't know was that mamaliga sticks to metal surfaces. When he realized the food was sticking to his spoon, Trevor, lacking impulse control, had tried to shake the mamaliga loose, misjudged his strength and sent the spoon flying to the other side of the kitchen, where it landed in one of the ice boxes that somebody had just opened. His physics defying act was recognized by Luca and Mihai, who applauded it even as their mother scolded them. Sypha kept him from stirring after that.

The last accident wasn't even in the cooking process itself. Trevor, not really allowed to do much of anything since Sypha was trying to save one of her favorite dishes, had been relegated to just handing her the ingredients. That included opening the cornmeal bags and pouring their contents on a bowl for her to add them to the pot. Trevor, who swore he had learned to use scissors as a child, yes, really, managed to cut the large bag of cornmeal wrong and rip the plastic open, causing its contents to pour all over the kitchen floor. Aunt Daria watched, desolated, as he tried to keep the cornmeal from spilling with his hands, which was about as effective as trying to close a man sized hole in a dam with a cork. Trevor was handed a broom and told to go play with the kids when he was done cleaning up the mess.

"Told you so," said Sypha, pouring a batch of mamaliga on a big serving dish.

"How is that even possible?" asked aunt Daria, bewildered. "Is he always like that?"

"The only times when he doesn't ruin the food are when he makes barely edible crap on purpose," explained Sypha. She started the next batch while her aunt tried to process that information. "You should see him make pizza. I've had to witness him pouring leftover beans over fried bananas and mashed potatoes. Those were the toppings."

Everyone in earshot experienced a brand new level of second hand disgust and offered her words of solidarity. Trevor was officially banned from the kitchen and spent the rest of the morning playing tag with the kids. 

The barbecue lasted the whole day, being the main event of the family gathering. There were tents set up outside to protect the tables from the scalding hot sun, so that people could eat without the risk of heatstroke. Erica and the other kids played with the sprinklers, running around barefoot and soaking wet, while their parents tried to get them to stop and eat properly. 

Sitting under the same tent as the trio, Clara decided to poke fun at her cousin. "So you're dating Bigfoot, huh? How's that like?" she mocked, getting some snickers from the others at the table. Sypha only smiled.

Trevor raised an eyebrow at her. "What, me? Like I'd just parade around the woods naked like that," he argued, feigning offense. 

Adrian put a hand on his boyfriend's exposed and hairy leg. "Don't lie, darling. You absolutely would," he said, trying not to laugh. "You're certainly confident enough."

"Damn right, I am," said Trevor, stuffing his chest, getting some more laughs out of the group.

"You know that scene in Big Hero 6 where Baymax is petting the cat?" asked Sypha, stroking Trevor's arm. "It's like that. Hairy baby, hairy baby," she cooed, making Trevor laugh as he pulled his arm away. 

"Hey, he doesn't even need a blanket probably. Does he sleep naked?" asked Pietro, and his girlfriend elbowed him on the ribs, glaring at him. "What?" he asked, confused, making Sam roll her eyes at him.

"Trevor is like a portable heater," said Adrian, getting up. "Or a weird electric blanket. Do you want another drink?" he asked his partners, and both nodded, handing him their glasses.

"Yeah, and Sypha's feet are always cold as fuck," said Trevor, pointing at his girlfriend. She gave him a mean look.

"A match made in heaven," said Lola, drinking some of her lemonade and looking displeased at it. "This needs some vodka."

"Don't let uncle Dima hear you, or we'll be drunk as skunks before night falls," said Yuri, but apparently his cousins thought that was actually a good idea. Irina got up to find her father and get them all some alcohol. She returned to the table a few minutes later holding a bottle of freezing cold vodka and a cocktail shaker.

"Now we can get this party started," Irina said, taking Lola's lemonade, pouring it into the shaker and adding a lot of vodka. She shook the drink expertly, before pouring it and returning the glass. "How's that?"

Lola took a sip and gave her a thumbs up. Soon somebody dragged one of the ice boxes to their tent and the drinks started flowing.

"Do you want some wine?" Sypha asked Adrian, drinking something blue and sparkly that Irina made. Her boyfriend had been steadily sipping on his lemonade, refusing to have it spiked.

"Yeah. Thank you," he said, kissing her hand as she got up. Trevor, who was helping Irina make drinks, tried to hide his excitement.

Sypha walked over to the bigger tent, where most of the family elders were, to get one of the many, many bottles of wine imported from Romania. Suggesting they get wine from anywhere else was a quick way to get enemies in the Belnades family. She stood by the table, observing yet another lively debate.

"No, no, what I'm saying is magenta only exists as your brain's interpretation of a color it can't physically see," explained aunt Katya, drawing an eye on a piece of paper. 

"Shrimp can probably see it," added uncle Dima, pouring himself some more wine.

"But the color is real, right? You can print it, there's magenta ink in printers," argued uncle Bogdan, putting his glasses on and squinting at the drawing Katya made.

"There is a color, yes, but we don't know what it actually looks like," she tried, tapping the drawing. "The ink is in that color, but our eyes see it as a shade of pink because we lack the specific color receptors to be able to see it as it really is."

"How is that even possible?" asked aunt Susan, joining the conversation as she placed a plate full of lamb on the table. Everyone stopped talking for a bit and got some for their own plates.

"Could you pass me one of those, uncle?" asked Sypha, tapping Bogdan's shoulder and pointing at the wine. He looked up at her.

"Are you kids finally learning to drink properly?"

"Some of us are," she said, chuckling. Uncle Bogdan seemed pleased enough with that answer and handed her a corkscrew and a bottle.

"It's like how deer and some other large herbivores can't see oranges and yellows," continued aunt Katya. "They see shades of green instead."

"Really? Is that why tigers are orange?" asked a very fascinated uncle Ivan.

Sypha left the table just as aunt Katya was fishing her tablet from her purse to show everyone else the wonders of the light spectrum. She opened the bottle easily from years of experience and poured a glass of wine for Adrian.

"Hey, do you think he's gonna do the thing?" whispered Trevor as she was placing the bottle on the table. Sypha bit her lip.

"I hope so," she whispered back, and both tried not to laugh.

"Wait, wait," said Yuri, trying to get the others to shut up, "how old are you again?"

Adrian crossed his arms, sticking up his nose. "You don't believe me, do you? He doesn't believe me," he said to Sypha, who just shrugged and laughed. "I'm over five hundred years old, human."

"But how?" asked Irina, losing her shit. Trevor was smacking the table, laughing so hard he couldn't stop.

"I've already told you!" said a very exasperated and very drunk Adrian. "I am a vampire! My name is Alucard!"

"As in, Dracula backwards?" asked Florin, who wasn't supposed to be drinking due to his age. The backyard was too chaotic for any responsible and sober adults to notice, though, and the older cousins were too drunk themselves to care. Mihai had gotten hold of one of the vodka bottles and was sharing it with his brothers.

"Why yes, of course. That's my father's name," explained Adrian, with an English accent even though he was supposedly from Wallachia now.

"His father's name is Vlad Dracula Tepes," explained Sypha, trying not to choke on her fizzy strawberry drink as she laughed. "As in, the Dracula. Turns into bats and shit."

"Can you turn into anything?" asked Lola, making sure Adrian's glass was full because they needed more of this.

"Yes. I can turn into a wolf." Adrian's drunk self was apparently unable to realize people were laughing at him. "I can also levitate and command my sword with my mind. Where is my sword anyway?"

"I dunno man, probably the same place as my whip," said Trevor, voice muffled by the table because he couldn't lift his head. His shoulders were shaking with laughter.

"You have a whip?" asked Luca, blinking.

"The Morning Star," said Adrian, gesturing in an attempt to represent the weapon. "It's an amazing thing, really, wielded by his family for ages."

"I have no idea what's going on anymore," said Sam, watching amusedly.

"His family, the Belmonts, are hunters. Vampire hunters," explained Adrian, as everyone else nodded and snickered, except for Sypha, who was slipping from her chair, too drunk to care. "We're supposed to be enemies, you see, but have joined forces to defeat my father."

"Please, please, tell us why," begged Irina.

"Because my father is Dracula and he's a genocidal maniac," said Adrian as if that was obvious. "He's a danger to all humans. Well, all but my mother."

"Does he always do that when he's drunk?" Marian asked Sypha, filming everything on his phone.

"When he's really drunk, yeah," said Sypha with tears in her eyes. "I'm apparently a powerful magician who can summon fire and ice and shit."

"Wow." 

"Why are you telling us all of this?" asked Paloma, baffled. "We're, like, humans, right? You should be keeping that secret."

"But you're Speakers," retorted Adrian, simple as that. "All Belnades are Speakers."

"What?" several people asked, exchanging looks. "What the fuck are Speakers?" asked Paloma, echoing the general sentiment around the table.

"Speakers are keepers of the history and myths of the land. They memorize it all and pass it on to future generations. And sometimes they can use magic, like Sypha," said Adrian, pointing at his girlfriend, who waved at her cousins. They started laughing and talking over each other, trying to figure out what magic powers each one had. Lola found pen and paper from somewhere and started writing everything down.

"I'm calling dibs on flying!" yelled Florin, pushing his brothers so he could see better.

"You can't fly! Why would you fly?" asked Luca, pushing back.

"Why not? Sypha can apparently make a thirty feet tall ice platform out of nowhere," said Lola, shrugging and adding it to the list.

"I can? Wow," said Sypha, mystified.

"Am I the only one who doesn't get magic powers?" asked Trevor, pouting.

"That's because you're the lamest Belmont," mocked Adrian, making his boyfriend cry crocodile tears. 

"I wanna shoot lasers with my eyes," said Sam, getting a new drink from Pietro.

"That's Superman, though," he said, frowning. "You can't mix everything up like that."

"Thank you!" exclaimed Trevor, raising his hands in praise. "At least one of you is reasonable!" Sypha gave him both middle fingers and he laughed.

All of that drinking obviously caught up to them, making the following morning painfully unpleasant.

"I regret everything," Sypha whimpered from the bed, where she was hiding under the sheets.

"Same," mumbled Adrian, covering his eyes with his arm. The room wasn't too bright thanks to the closed curtains, but it was still more than his hangover self could take.

"Hhnng," came Trevor's voice from the bathroom, along with other indescribable noises. "Maybe we should have taken it a bit easier," he pointed out, emerging like Neo coming out of the pods in The Matrix. 

Sypha poked her head out, squinted at him, and said "You look like shit." Trevor nodded in agreement and stumbled back to the bed, falling in beside Adrian. His boyfriend immediately rolled to his side and snuggled against his chest.

There was a knock on the door. "Are you kids decent?" asked aunt Vera from the other side.

"We're dressed, if that's what you're asking," replied Trevor. Sypha would argue if it didn't feel like her head was going to explode. Aunt Vera opened the door and peeked inside before coming in.

"That's what you get for not drinking enough water," she said, just loud enough to make Sypha whimper some more. "Here, I'll leave you some so you can start curing this hangover. We're cooking beef tripe soup," aunt Vera added before leaving, and Trevor gagged a little. 

As they loaded the car after lunch, Adrian stopped and looked up at the sky, cloudy and dark. "I hate driving with rain," he said, pushing the ice boxes to the back of the trunk.

Trevor hummed, grabbing the bags off the ground and handing them to his boyfriend. "You know, that soup really helped with my hangover," he noted. A gust of chilly wind passed them and made him shiver, rubbing his arms. He heard Sypha clearing her throat behind them.

"Told ya," she said, smugly holding their jackets. She was already wearing an oversized sweatshirt, the sleeves long enough for her to hide her hands inside them. Trevor rolled his eyes and Adrian sighed.

Grandpa Stefan, standing next to her, asked "Were you not planning to bring jackets?"

"They didn't think it would be necessary," said Sypha, victorious. Her grandfather shook his head, disappointed.

"Always pack swim trunks and a jacket, lads," he admonished them. "Are you all packed and ready to go?"

"Yeah, pretty much," said Adrian, closing the trunk. They had already said their goodbyes, so all there was left to do was a last minute check, to see if they weren't leaving anything behind.

"Hey!" said Erica, running out of the house in their direction. The little girl hugged Trevor's legs, almost making him trip and fall. "Are you leaving yet?" she asked, looking up with teary eyes.

"In a bit, kid. Sorry," Trevor said, ruffling her hair.

"Please stay. Just one more day," Erica begged, looking from her cousin to her grandpa.

Trevor made her let go of his legs so he could kneel down to her level. "We'll be back next year, though," he assured her, pinching her nose sweetly. 

"Promise?" asked the little girl, sniffling.

"Yeah, promise," said Trevor, looking at his partners, who nodded, smiling. 

Erica shrieked in joy and hugged him again, very tight, then Adrian and Sypha. Grandpa Stefan hugged them as well, then picked the little girl up while the trio got in the car.

"Drive safe," he said, as Adrian started the car and Sypha sent them kisses from the backseat window, Trevor poking his head between the front seats to wave back at them. 

"Until next year!" yelled Erica and they both waved, watching the car drive off.

**Author's Note:**

> How many times can you say mamaliga? 
> 
> Also, that game really is from a tumblr post and it does sound awful.


End file.
